By SHASHANK BENGALI McClatchy

Published 12:01 am, Sunday, April 10, 2011

AJDABIYA, Libya -- The front line for control of Libya moved to its easternmost point in three weeks on Saturday as forces loyal to Col. Moammar Gadhafi stormed this rebel-held town in a fleet of Toyota pickups.

Rebels who swept in to defend Ajdabiya, 100 miles from the opposition capital of Benghazi, were hit by pro-Gadhafi snipers and a rain of artillery shells. Street battles raged for hours in the town, which was largely empty of noncombatants.

There was no sign of NATO aircraft, whose strikes on Gadhafi loyalists had been crucial to rebel military successes.

Libyan state television showed what it claimed were live images of Gadhafi supporters celebrating in the streets of Ajdabiya, though by nightfall rebels said they had chased most of the loyalists out of town. Fighting continued near the town's western gate, which Gadhafi's forces have pummeled since Thursday with missile strikes and mortar rounds.

The battle appeared to show a rebel movement hanging by a thread, barely able to retain a key gateway to their capital. The opposition forces seemed surprised when Gadhafi's fighters -- riding in about 30 pickups, some equipped with Russian-made Grad missile launchers -- attacked Ajdabiya from three directions, including the southern desert and two western roads.

The loyalist attack showed the degree to which the Gadhafi forces have adapted to conditions on the ground, where heavy tanks and artillery have become easy targets for NATO jets enforcing a U.N. resolution intended to protect civilians.

Switching to civilian vehicles and light weapons, the Gadhafi forces are now using the same equipment as the rebels, confusing NATO air crews and leading to two mistaken NATO airstrikes on rebel positions that killed at least 18 people in the last week.

Rebels said they had begun to paint the tops of their trucks peach to distinguish them from the loyalist pickups, but few rebel vehicles moving toward Ajdabiya on Saturday bore the new marking.

With street battles raging and the explosions of battle heard in the distance, rebel fighters positioned on the desert highway a few miles outside Ajdabiya complained that reinforcements from Benghazi fled at the first sign of a skirmish. As dusk settled, rebels battling to defend Ajdabiya reportedly couldn't distinguish between friendly forces and enemy fighters.

"You can't walk in the streets. You have to hold your ground and stay there because it's not safe," said Saleh Awad Ali, a 40-year-old rebel.

In Misrata, The Associated Press reported that rebels and government troops have battled since Friday for control of a key roadway linking the port -- a lifeline for opposition fighters and trapped civilians. A doctor who spoke to The Associated Press by phone said at least seven people had been killed.

The doctor spoke on condition of anonymity because of fear of reprisals. The accounts could not be independently verified because Libyan authorities have blocked journalists from conducting their own reporting in the city.

For a second consecutive day, international journalists were taken on a government-supervised trip to the outskirts of Misrata. In a farming area south of the city, pro-Gadhafi forces manned positions with pickup trucks mounted with anti-aircraft guns. Tents and sniper nests were hidden in trees and brush.

Also in Misrata, the Red Cross said a relief ship reached the port. A Turkish ship also docked in Misrata to bring home Egyptians stranded in Libya's third-largest city, said Egypt's deputy foreign minister, Mohammed Abdel-Hakam. A second Turkish ship was expected Sunday.

In other developments in Arab world's unrest Saturday:

• EGYPT: Thousands of demonstrators barricade themselves in Cairo's central square with burned-out troop carriers and barbed wire and demand the removal of the military council ruling Egypt, infuriated after soldiers stormed their protest camp overnight, killing at least one person and injuring 71 others.

• YEMEN: Yemen, angry over Qatar's suggestion that its leader resign, recalls its ambassador to the fellow Arabian Peninsula nation as hundreds of thousands of Yemeni protesters rallied for a second straight day to demand the ouster of President Ali Abdullah Saleh.

• BAHRAIN: Two supporters of Bahrain's anti-government movement die in police custody after physical abuse at the hands of security officials, activists say.